May 3, 2026:

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame….[until]

But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?‘ Adam answered, ‘I heard You in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’”

(Genesis 2.25; Genesis 3.9-10)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

There is something I want to share with you about “the eighth day.” It rarely is just a day or a moment. It is a happening which takes no longer than a split second but it has been considered for some time. And when the eighth day presents itself, it creates a season in our lives. We can condense down into a reflection, however, that takes no time at all. This is that kind of “eighth day” I am reflecting on as it is presented in Genesis 3. As a story, a poetic verse rehearsed over time to keep a memory alive and purposeful, a cadence of simplicity is required. This is the power and the purpose of Genesis 1 and 2. It is formed and fashioned in such a way by God so that the first generation of His people would remember their “genesis.” It is not merely how it all began but how they are interconnected with life itself in a world far beyond their imagination. So many want to reduce the power of this story into verifiable facts as if literalism makes an actuality. If there is no hint of doubt and wonder can there truly be any faith. I say that here only to validate what I said about the timing of the eighth day being better understood as a season. It wasn’t a literal twenty-four hour day. We all have experienced this season, as I have said, many times over if truth be told. We know the cadences of those seasons when doubts and questions about meaning, purpose, truth and God are spoken by ourselves to ourselves as if we were devil’s advocates. And in the midst of those seasons, our innocence is lost even for just a fraction of a second. That fraction seems like an eternity when the truth rushes in on us and the light of life pushes back the veil of darkness. That darkness is not the absence of light as some would so easily describe it. It is a sense of a lack of knowledge or the tools to bring all the many facts together that existed in our heart or mind or soul as without form and void. Yes, it does sound like the beginning of the Creation Story and I see it that way for me. I do not expect you to see it as I do but I do offer it that you might consider it for a moment and to be invited to put into words how you have come to understand it for yourselves. In that vein of thinking, it is not impossible for me to see God’s mighty work in more than six literal days. They are seasons of creativity which God can do in the twinkling of an eye (which scripture says can be like a thousand years) or in a thousand years (which we then understand can be like the twinkling of an eye.) What does it matter how long it takes? Isn’t it about the doing, the reason for it and the story of love which brought it all into being?

So, stop and read chapter three and see for yourself if you are not in the story, too? When have you been Adam (watching and not intervening)? When have you been Eve (knowing but in innocence inexperienced with the wiles of sin)? When have you been the Serpent (cunning and self-seeking hoping to take advantage of a situation for your own good)? When have you been God (wanting to redeem and redirect the lost to be found and having to speak of harsh consequences not as rejection but reconciliation)? When have you had to be the storyteller (with hopes that helping other navigate their own story that they find their way)? There is much in the story of The Fall. It is a season we all must pass through. For some of us we must do it several times before we find our way through what David called “the valley of the shadow of death.” Sadly, some never do but it cannot be because we did not see it and the opportunity to help them get back to where God always wanted them to be.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.